Dream Sequence
by Taisi
Summary: It threw one thing into perspective for all of them: if anything happened to them, Yoh would be heartbroken. They were his greatest strength, and his ultimate weakness.


_Dream Sequence_

"I am Sho-sho!" she cried triumphantly, leering down at their group with a smug sense of superiority. "I will become Shaman King--and my spirit will cripple anyone who stands in my way!"

"Ano..." Yoh smiled politely, holding up his hands. "I don't really want to fight you...Is there anyway you might let us pass?" He was appealing gently to the girl's good nature, hoping to avoid conflict as per usual.

"Give it up, Yoh," Ren drawled, glaring up at his new opponent.

Horohoro was grinning, ready for a challenge. "Yeah, she seems like the type not to care about whatever you have to say."

"Don't ignore me!" Sho-sho shouted, stomping her foot. Her spirit scowled at her, exasperated. Sho-sho made an apologetic face at it, then yelled, "I'll start with you--Yoh, was it?" She smirked. "You'll regret messing with me!" She threw up a coin, and shouted, "Do your thing, Maiyem!"

Her spirit sighed, then soared upward and then down towards Yoh; Ryu shouted, "Look out, Master!" but before anyone had time to act, Maiyem disappeared.

They were silent, looking around; Horohoro said after a moment, "...Where the hell did it go?" and might've shouted something up at Sho-sho, when suddenly Yoh cried out and doubled over.

"Yoh-kun!" Manta shouted fearfully, from where he stood with Anna and Faust. Faust's eyes changed, and he moved forward quickly, going to Yoh's side.

"Yoh-kun?" he asked him quietly, touching his shoulder gently. Yoh shuddered away from the contact, holding his arms and curling forward. He was trembling with effort, and his voice came out strangled;

"...I can't...no..."

And then he screamed again, a heart-wrenching sound of absolute agony and fear--his companions were at a loss, unable to tell what was hurting him. "Yoh?!" Horohoro yelled, kneeling in front of him and grabbing his shoulders. "Yoh, goddammit, look at me!" The ice-shaman tipped his friend's head back, and almost dropped him; tears were streaming down the brunet's face. His hysterics seemed to be over, but there was no life left in his eyes. "...Yoh...?"

"Her spirit is inside of him," Faust said suddenly, voice harsh and eyes cold as death. He turned to look at Sho-sho, giving her a glare that was startling enough to silence her.

"What the hell have you done to him?" Ren asked Sho-sho in a voice filled with enough silent rage to make her step back involuntarily. He pulled out his spear, pointing it in her direction, silently promising her demise. "Speak now."

"I-I...I won't!" she shouted, trying to regain control of the situation. "Maiyem! Twist his soul even more!"

"His soul?" Manta was horrified, holding onto Yoh's arm. "What does she mean by that?!"

"My Maiyem is making him experience the worst pain and suffering he could ever imagine, over and over," Sho-sho said triumphantly. "What's minutes to you is years to him! The end result? He'll be cuckoo for the rest of his life!" And here she laughed, obviously quite pleased with herself.

Which was when Yoh's comrades finally snapped and had her beaten in no time; with her main spirit inside Yoh, there was little she could do to defend herself. Horohoro froze her enough to keep her immobile; she was covered in thin ice up to her shoulders.

"Let go of me!!" she screamed, outraged.

Ren leaned into her, their faces mere inches apart. "You're lucky we don't rip you apart where you stand," he hissed, and she bit back her protests, eyes wide with fear. "Call off your spirit, and you just might make it a few more minutes," the golden-eyed boy continued, raising his weapon to her again. "Don't think I don't mean it; that would be your _last_ mistake."

Ryu was a little taken aback at Ren's severity, and wondered when it had ever gotten this bad; when he realized that it hadn't ever changed. It was past the point where Yoh would've stepped in with his gentle manner, said a few soft, soothing words, and calmed Ren down. Now, Ren's temper was allowed to escalate until it was almost dangerous.

"He means it," Horohoro said, unfazed and unimpressed. His arms were crossed, and his eyes were cold as ice. "Get that monster out of our leader now."

Tears were welling in her eyes, but she bit her lip, trying to keep herself strong. And then Anna said, in a colder manner than usual, "If they kill you, I'll make sure your soul never knows peace." Her dark eyes were frightening.

Finally, Sho-sho screamed, "Maiyem!! Come out of him, now!!" And after a moment, the hazy figure was back at Sho-sho's side, startled by the new developments. Bason and Amidamaru--who'd followed Maiyem out of his shaman--held Sho-sho's spirit at blade-point. Amidamaru was a little unsteady, and his eyes were unfocused; Bason watched him with concern.

"Master?" Ryu shook him gently. "Master, everything's okay now. Maiyem is gone."

Yoh's eyes remained vacant, his expression vaguely painful. Faust was stroking his hair back from his face, looking more and more worried. "Whatever that spirit did to him, he's not getting over it. This state of unawareness is probably his only defense against whatever it was that so horrified him." They all glared at Sho-sho and Maiyem, both of whom whimpered.

"I-I told you...it was whatever he feared most...whatever would hurt him the most..." Sho-sho whispered, terrified.

"What would scare Yoh-kun the most?" Manta asked, not releasing his friend's arm.

"I'll give you two guesses," Anna said quietly. She made her way to Yoh, and knelt at his side. "Yoh. You need to look around you. Really look, Yoh. Everyone's alright. Yoh." She kept this up, repeating his name often. Finally, his eyes began to clear, but as they did so, his gasping cries came back as well. Anna slipped her hands into his, saying quietly, "Yoh. Get ahold of yourself."

After several breathless moments, he sat up. Pained obsidian eyes raised slowly to Anna's; theirs was a long, wordless communication. And then he was looking over each of his comrades, one-by-one, taking them in. "Everyone..." His eyes widened. "You're...you're all okay." As they watched, his expression crumpled again and he hid his face, sobbing silently. "You're okay..."

It threw one thing into perspective for all of them; if anything ever happened to them, Yoh would be heartbroken. They were his greatest strength, and his ultimate weakness. Faust stroked his hair again, this time for comfort, and Manta leaned against him. Anna didn't surrender his hands, and Horohoro wrapped an arm around him on one side, Ryu on the other, and Ren stood directly behind him, his support.

They were all content to hold the boy until his sobs faded into silence and his tears came to an end; for the first time, they were his protection, instead of the other way around. They were _his_ shelter, _his_ comfort.

And until he didn't want them around anymore, that's what they'd always be.

A/N: This is much different than my usual style of writing. It's actually really friggin' weird, but hey. -shrug- This is just a drabble, and it says so in the summary, so if you came here expecting something amazing, please don't flame. Thanks for reading!


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